Tangential-flame furnace.



W. N. BEST. TANGENTIAL FLAME FURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED PEB.19, 1904.

Patented Mar. 31, 1914.

14 attd run ares a'rn rricn.

WILLIAM NEWTON BEST, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, 0F ONE-THIRD TO JOHN H. BEST AND ONE-THIRD 10 EZRA. BEST, OF QUINCY, ILLINOIS, AND ONE-THIRD TO WILLIAM N. BEST, OF BROOKLYN,

NEW YORK.

TANGENTIAL-FLAME FURNACE.

To aZZ whom it may concern Be it known that 1 WILLIA NEWTON BEST, a citizen of the United States, residing in the cit of New York, borough of Brooklyn, in tae county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Tangential-Flame Furnace, of which the following is a specification.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a furnace or combustion chamber wherein the heat will be uniformly distrib uted, all parts of the chamber being heated equally. This uniform heatin of the chamher is essential to perfect combustion which requires that no part of the fire shall be colder than the ignition point of the gases.

A further object of the invention is to cause the flame to be directed against the walls of the fire chamber, in distinction to being concentrated in the center thereof.

In furnaces for brazing, forging, smelting and other purposes it is usual to place-the object or material to be heated directly in the path of the flame, with the result that parts of the obj ct or material are burned or unduly heated while other parts are insufliciently heated and the cooling effect of the object or material on the flame results in imperfect combustion.

My invention provides a chamber wherein the object or material is. laced, and enables a heating flame to be pa ed in said chamber around said object or material, and .against the walls of the chamber, so as to evenly heat all parts of the object or material both by the direct'heat of the flame and by heat reflected and radiated from the walls of the chamber.

Another object of my invention is to provide for a relatively long course or path of the flame in a chamber of limited size, without the use of baflie plates, to insure compl te combustion of the gases before they leave the chamber.

My invention is also of value in a. steam boiler furnace wherein, as is well known, the

main evaporative efi'ect comes from heat radiated in the fire box. By passing the'flame in contact with the walls of the fire chamber the latter are raised to a white heat, producing a maximum heating eflect, and the combustion being com lete before the gases leave the tire chamber, there is no tendency Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Mal. 31, 19141., Application filed February 19, 1904.

Serial No. 194,310.

to burn the boiler tubes or plates or to deposit soot;therein.

The invention comprises, in combination with a combustion chamber, means for directing a flame therein in a path tangential to the walls of the chamber, so that the flame will have a circular or spiral path around and within the walls of the chamber.

The invention further comprises, a combustion chamber having a tangential inlet, an outlet above the plane of said inlet, and blast burner means directing its flame through said inlet.

The invention further comprises in connection with a boiler, a combustion chamber below theboiler and having its walls projecting inwardly at the top, blast burner means producing a tangentially or spirally moving flame within said chamber.

The invention also comprises other featu-res hereinafter set forth and claimed.

My invention is particularly applicable in connection with hydrocarbon burners wherein by means of a suitable expansive medium such as steam or compressed air, a blast of hydrocarbon can be directed with great force in the required direction.

The accompanying drawin s illustrate the invention, and referring to t e same :-Figure 1 is a vertical section of a water tube boiler furnace embodying my invention, showing the boiler in elevation. Fig. 2, is a horizontal section of said furnace. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing a modification.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, 1 indicates the combustion chamber or fire-pot of the boiler furnace. Said fire-pot has a perforate checkwork floor or bot-tom 2, and has perforate walls 3 that overhang inwardly. The main air-inlet into said fire-pot is in the form of a refractory tunnel 4 which forms an igniting and preliminary combustion chamber; and the outlet 5 from the chamber into the fire-box is unobstructed and is arranged at the top of the chamber or firepot 1 and below the boiler. The burner 6 is provided with a hydrocarbon supply pipe 7 and steam or air blast pipe 8 and discharges into the air inlet tunnel 4. A boiler 9 of the inclined water tube type is shown above the fire-pot or chamber 1. The burner 6 and tunnel 4c constitute means for directing a blast of fuel tangentially into said chaminlet so as to ber below the direct air inlets 31 forming the inner ends of the ducts or air inlets hereinafter more particularly described.

The combustion chamber 1 is desirably of a round form in horizontal section and has its walls overhanging or projecting inward at the top. The main air inlet or tunnel 4 leads through the Wall tangentially to the inner face thereof, and the burner 6 is directed toward and along the line of. said direct its blast obliquely toward or along and against'the sidewall of the combustion chamber, in a direction substantially or approximately tangent al to said wall. Air inlets are suitably distributed in the walls of the combustion chamber. Thus, inlets 10 lead through the floor 2 of said chamber and inlets 11 lead upwardly in the walls 3 and then inwardly as 11161: cated by the direct inlets 31 to communicate with the chamber 1 at points somewhat below the top thereof.

12 designates the frontwall of the firebox, 13 the fire-wall and 14 the grate bars supporting the perforate floor 2.

15 designates the outlet to the stack from the boiler space.

In operation the blast from the hydrocarbon burner 6 enters the combustion chamber through the inlet 1-, as shown by arrows, passing first in a direction parallel or tangential to the side wall of the chamber, and then owing to the curvature of the chamber striking the side wall and being deflected thereby in a curved course following around the curved wall of the chamber, so as to contact with all parts of said wall. Owing to the fact that the outlet 5 is above the inlet, the flame will also incline'upwardly so that its path will be more or less spiral or vortical in character. In passing over the floor and around the walls of the combustion chamber in this manner, the flame is met at all points by incoming air through the supplemental inlets 10 and 11 which serve to complete the combustion. The checker-work floor 2 and walls 3, which are formed of suitable refractory material, such as fire-brick, will become heated to an intense degree and thus serve as powerful radiators to heat the boiler tubes by direct radiation and will also serve to heat the air passing in through inlets 10 and 11 and thereby render the combustion more perfect. The combustion is therefore substantially complete when the gases pass upwardlyfrom the combustion chamber through the opening or outlet 5;

these gases being then passed in contact with the fines of the boiler in the usual man'- ner as though from a bedof coals on the floor of a fire-box serve to heat the same uniformly and with no danger of burning due to further combustion or of deposition of soot by imperfect combustion.

In some cases in large furnaces of this character it may be possible to have more than one set of blast burners directed into the same combustion chamber. Thus, in Fig. 3, two such burners are shown which are located at two separate inlets 4, one of which, indicated in dotted lines, is below -the other and extends tangentially to the chamber wall in the opposite direction to the upper inlet so that the two burners, extending respectively along the line of said inlets, will direct their blasts in opposite directions, one above the other, in said combustion chamber, as shown respectively, by the full and dotted arrows in Fig. i

It will be understood. that myinvention is applicable, generally, to various forms of boilers, furnaces, etc., and is not limited to any one particular form of boiler or furnace. I have herein shown and described a certain embodiment of the invention in connection with one type of boiler and furnaces, but it will be understood that the invention is not restricted to such types but the same principle may be applied to other types of boilers and furnaces without departing from the spirit of my invention.

In practical operation the fuel directed through the igniting and preliminary combustion chamber 4 bursts into flame and enters the round chamber tangentially swirling around therein and a part of the energy thereof Issues through the outlet at the top in the form of radiant heat and enters the firebox of the furnace to heat the boiler. The checker work floor of fire brick 2 admits the requisite oxygen underneath the swirling fire in proportion to the stack draft of the boiler or forced draft conditions as well as in proportion to the size of the orifice between the bricks of the checker work. Under forced conditions the holes 31 beneath the deflection and retaining arch or ledge 51 assist the combustion by giving highly super-heated oxygen to combine with the consuming gases as they issue into the main body of the fire box. The swirling gases which pass around the firebox at the top thereof are intimately intermixed with the oxygen flowing in through the inlets 31 just below the ledge 51, and superior combustion thereby results.

While in the drawings Figs. 2 and 3 are not detailed as being constructed in segments, it is to be understood that the segmental or sectional construction of the combustion chamber will be preferably used in all forms of the furnace.

What I claim is 1. In a furnace, a substantially round chamber having a tangential inlet and a central outlet in the top, the walls of said chamber overhanging inwardly and being provided with air inlets, and an injector burner arranged to direct fuel tangentially into the chamber.

2. In a furnace, a grate, a perforated floor thereon, and a combustion chamber on said floor having an outlet in the top, the Walls of said chamber overhanging inwardlyand being provided with a tangential inlet and with air inlets near the top, and an injector burner arranged to direct fuel tangentially into the chamber.

3. In a furnace, a grate, a perforated fioor thereon, and a combustion-chamber on said floor having an opening in the top, the Wall of said chamber overhanging inwardly and being provided with a tangential inlet and with air inlets which extend fromthe grate upward and inward and open into the chamber entirely around the same near the upper edge of the overhanging portion of said wall, and an injector burner to direct fuel tangentially into the chamber.

l. A furnace comprising a secondary combustion chamber and a round combustion chamber below the secondary combustion chamber, said combustion chamber having at the top an orifice openin upwardly into the secondary combustion c amber, and air inlets through the chamber wall below said direction at one level, and means for directing a blast of fuel into said chamber in a reverse direction at another level.

6. In a furnace, a substantially round chamber having a tangential inlet and terminating in a single outlet in the top, the walls of said chamber and outlet overhanging and being provided with air inlets, and

an injector burner arranged to direct fuel tangentially into the chamber.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of Y two subscribing witnesses, at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles, and State of California, this 13th day of February, 1904.

WILLIAM NEWTON BEST.

WVitnesses ARTHUR P. KNIGHT, JULIA TOWNSEND. 

